Every month I receive a variety of questions from salespeople and their managers. These come from a variety of sources - my live seminars, the monthly phone seminars, questions that are sent into my newsletter, and issues that arise in the course of my consulting work. Out of all of these, I select those that I think have the most universal application, and respond to them here.
Transforming Your Sales Force for the 21st Century The book, written for sales managers and executives in the distribution industry, provides a blue print for executives to transform their sales forces into highly directable, effective, focused performers. more info
How to Create a Win/Win Sales Compensation Plan Make use of this program to guide you through the process of creating a winning sales compensation plan, reduce your risks, and ensure that you make the best decisions. Let Dave show you how to create a win/win formula. more info
What are some of the most effective sales force automation tools you have seen?
Do you have a week or so? The options today seem limitless. And there is so much innovation in this area that new solutions appear almost weekly. It seems that by the time you have examined all your options, new ones will have cropped up.
There are just too many good options available for me to point out any particular brand of software. I do, however, have some observations to share. Some things I've learned about sales force automation tools include these:
FREE 30-page "Handling Objections" workbook. Just join Dave's information packed "Thinking About Sales" ezine, also FREE!
The cost of training the sales force is about equal to the cost of the hardware and software. This is particularly true if you have an older, less computer-literate sales force. So, if you are planning on spending $2,000 per salesperson on the system, figure on spending about the same amount training the salesperson to use the system.
Implementing a sales force automation solution, particularly if it is the first time, as opposed to a revision of a previous system, is going to be a major initiative. It will take a significant investment of management time and talent, not to mention money. In addition to the initial decision as to what to buy, there will be decisions to make about how to set up and customize the system, how to train the sales people and sales managers, and how to manage its implementation.
You will have people who immediately adapt to the new system as well as those who absolutely refuse, and people in between the two extremes. You'll need to make decisions about how to enforce compliance, and what to do when you have salespeople who don't comply. Plan on the total project taking a significant chunk of time for a year or so.
The company you choose to partner with regarding your software is more important than the brand of software. Once you make your initial purchase, you'll need help customizing the system to your dynamics, you'll need help training and retraining your salespeople, you'll have upgrades to implement, glitches to overcome and refinements to add. In other words, the choice of sales force automation solution is not an event, it's a continuous process. You are going to live with your choice and your provider for years. So, choose a company with whom you are comfortable, and let them guide you in the solution that is best for you.
Hope this helps. Good luck.
- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * -
If you have any comments or questions, email them to me.
I do, of course, reserve the right to edit
Here are a few articles by Dave
that you might be interested in reading:
What's the Best Way to Find a Good Salesperson... Good question! It seems that everyone has a favorite response. Some people only use recruiters, and others swear by networking. But classified ads continue to be the most common choice. Almost everyone who hires salespeople will, at some time, search for prospects via the "help wanted" section.... {Read More}
Is it Time to Revise Your Sales Compensation Plan?... If you're paying your sales reps straight commission, you're using an obsolete formula. If you're paying your sales reps a straight salary, you're also using an obsolete formula. Read this article to find out a much more effective way to compensate your sales staff.... {Read More}
How to Deal with the Salesperson Who Has Leveled Off... Every manager has, or will, confront this troublesome issue. Itīs arisen in every workshop for sales managers or branch managers Iīve done. One or more of your salespeople has leveled off. Their performance hasnīt improved much in the last few years. Where before you were able to count on significant increases each year, now you can not. You know that these experienced salespeople can do better, but they seem unable or unwilling to break out of a certain level of performance. You are scratching your head, frustrated, and loosing sleep at night wondering how to improve the situation. What do you do?... {Read More}
There are also many other action-packed articles for sales professionals that offer how-to solutions to every day sales problems that you can read online at www.davekahle.com/article.htm.
